The Omega Writers Conference is always a highlight of my year! It's a small, but growing, conference aimed at encouraging, supporting and equipping Australasian Christian writers. I've attended it off and on for a number of years now moving from participant to presenter and have enjoyed getting to know Christian writers from all over Australia and New Zealand. The conference itself moves around, so although it had been in Sydney for the last two years this year it traveled to Adelaide and was hosted in part by Tabor College. I was thrilled by this because one of the speakers scheduled was the award winning Rosanne Hawke. So I booked my tickets, paid my registration, made some plans to visit a couple of friends along the way and headed to Adelaide!

The conference was wonderful. US writer Alex Marestaing was the keynote speaker and, as we've come to expect of him, delivered engaging and powerful sessions relevant to writers at all stages. It was great to be able to spend the weekend talking books, encouraging one another, learning more and taking a break from everyday routines.

Saturday evening was the CALEB Awards Night. This year, my novel Camp Max was in the running as a finalist in the Children's Literature Category.

When Camp Max was announced as the Overall Grand Prize winner, I was completely overwhelmed. Just think, a little children's novel could win the Grand Prize! I was thrilled, humbled and incredibly thankful. I know none of my books would exist without the support of those around me - especially my family and friends who continue to encourage me to keep writing. And this book in particular wouldn't have existed if my publisher, Wombat Books, hadn't believed it would work!

So yes, it was a great conference. And I'm home again now; back to the everyday routine but with the thrum of thankfulness to God wrapped around my heart.

It was several years ago now that I received an email inviting me to write a chapter for a new book. It was to be a collection of stories from mothers - who had served in mission - about what it was like to be a mother in a missionary context. I was interested, but not entirely sure what I would write.

Me, as a child, visiting Nepal with my family.

I think part of this was because I hadn't just been a 'missionary mother', I'd been a 'missionary kid'. To me, living cross culturally because of my faith was normal whether I was being mothered or mothering. But I agreed to give it a go. I found myself treading gingerly through memories and coming to sense just how tenderly God held my heart as I grew from child to adult to parent. And as I traveled from Australia, to Nepal, and back again.

That book came out in September this year. It's called For the Joy: 21 Australian missionary mother stories on cross-cultural parenting and life. It is edited by Miriam Chan and Sophia Russell. It includes stories from mothers living in Arhnem Land, Pakistan and France. My chapter is #3.

If you'd like to purchase a copy, you can do so from any good Christian bookstore, or just chat to me.

It's been rather busy at my desk lately, with lots going on, so I thought I'd pop in here and write some of it down!

The 1st of July was the official release date for my first young adult novel, Out of the Cages. It was rather surreal to hold that book in my hands after the long journey it took to reach publication.We held the official launch on the 7th July, at 7pm (Yep - 7 o'clock and the 7th of the 7th. I didn't mean to have such a 7ish event, but I did like that coincidence.)

The launch was attended by about 80 people and I was able to share some of the story of how I researched this novel and what I learned along the way. You can see some photos from the launch over at my Penny Jaye website.

Camp Max has been on tour and that's been great fun! I always love taking my books to schools and sharing my enthusiasm about stories with children. It's even better when I get to focus on just the one book for the whole session, it gives me (an the kids) a real opportunity to think about the issues and characters. And Camp Max is a great book for that.

Each book has a namea title, a covera story on pages tucked in between.Sometimes that storydraws on the pastor whispers of day dreamsas fact skips with wonder.But there comes a dayas the ideas grow,that I type at the frontof the book I am writinga single word: 'dedication'and then I pause.For each book has a reasona someone without whom the heart of this storywould cease to exist.

There was once, I could say,two little girls.One threw a paperweight at the other one's head. (I'll let you guess which one was which)But the force of that momentit's forgiveness and friendship and the years since melded by,stained itself to the threadsof a story wrote later. And before that book had a namea title, or cover,I typed 'dedication'and I knew straight away which two little words would come next.

I'm often asked how I started writing for children, or what the process is to get a children's book in print. It's a great adventure really! Heaps of fun and a lot of hard work. But practically speaking some people are really interested in the how and what. So I'm running a workshop on it.

When? It'll be on Saturday 19th May, 1pm to 4pm. Where? At the Koorong Penrith Training Room. What? We'll cover (almost) everything I know about writing for children. From 'what it takes to write a picture book (do I need to illustrate it myself?)' to 'how can I know my manuscript is ready to submit to a publisher?' and much more. Cost? $40 per person, this includes afternoon tea.

Bookings can be made via Trybooking. Places are limited to 20 participants (simply because of the space available!)

In high school I used to call them 'thinks' - little bits of writing about whatever topic or issue I was mulling over at the time. These days I probably call them journal entries, or blog posts. Whatever the name, here's some of what I get when the penny drops, or doesn't, and I sit down to write...